Welcome to Echoing the Sound. You'll find that quite a few things have changed here since the last iteration of the board so be sure to check out the FAQ. This is a completely fresh start - You'll need to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed (and look for the registration email in your spam folder). To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Just scored my presale tickets, very excited! I was bummed they didn't have anything closer to me than NYC, as that's too far and too much to spend, so this show is perfect. After reading the Redit chat and what Rob said about the visuals, it should be a very interesting performance.

anyone been to that venue yet? it's relatively new and i was supposed to attend a Squarepusher show last year but it got cancelled because of the Sandy storm. was also supposed to be a visual spectacle that just never happened.

Super stoked here. But I'm wondering about getting to/coming back from the show.
I should be at Union Station a good while before anything starts happening at the Fillmore. And, I've read that the Metro bus service stops at midnight.
So, I figure I could take the bus there. But does anyone (perhaps, someone from the DC area or someone who has gotten around there before) know what the taxi service is like? Is it reliable after midnight, would I be able to call for a taxi from the venue, etc?

anyone been to that venue yet? it's relatively new and i was supposed to attend a Squarepusher show last year but it got cancelled because of the Sandy storm. was also supposed to be a visual spectacle that just never happened.

Same here, I was supposed to be at that Squarepusher show, still bitter about how that whole thing was handled. Looking forward to finally checking out this venue. I believe Marilyn Manson played there on those first shows with Twiggy back, as well as Danzig, so they seem to get similar acts.

Originally Posted by la_mer_27

Super stoked here. But I'm wondering about getting to/coming back from the show.
I should be at Union Station a good while before anything starts happening at the Fillmore. And, I've read that the Metro bus service stops at midnight.
So, I figure I could take the bus there. But does anyone (perhaps, someone from the DC area or someone who has gotten around there before) know what the taxi service is like? Is it reliable after midnight, would I be able to call for a taxi from the venue, etc?

I don't live in the area, but I've been several times to the area where the venue is (the AFI Silver is nearby). It's inside the beltway, but right on the edge. The Red line of the Metro goes there and beyond, don't know the hours but that could be an option for getting there at the very least, maybe getting back too since the show isn't super late. The area has a mall near by and lots of shops, so it's not really a "bad" area, so I would think there'd be taxis around afterwards, but again, I can't say for sure.

Super stoked here. But I'm wondering about getting to/coming back from the show.
I should be at Union Station a good while before anything starts happening at the Fillmore. And, I've read that the Metro bus service stops at midnight.
So, I figure I could take the bus there. But does anyone (perhaps, someone from the DC area or someone who has gotten around there before) know what the taxi service is like? Is it reliable after midnight, would I be able to call for a taxi from the venue, etc?

Try the visitors bureau of Montgomery County, which includes Silver Spring: 240-777-2060. Or if you call one of the nicer hotels in the downtown area near the venue -- Doubletree, Sheraton, etc. -- I'm sure they'd be nice enough to tell you.

I saw Manson there almost a year ago and my sister's lived around the corner from the venue for about 6 years, so I've been there visiting a bit, too.It's a REALLY nice, newly-rehabbed club in a relatively upscale area, so there will either be tons of cabs right there or someone working at the club who can call one to pick you up there. There are also a bunch of semi-fancy bars open late in the immediate area too so I really wouldn't sweat it since there's so much going on there after shows let out. Good luck and have fun! Looking forward to hearing about it. :)

2013.04.30 - Silver Springs, MD @ The Fillmore

Wow, I just recently checked back on this thread and am surprised by the number of replies here. Thank you all so much for your feedback. It looks like a lot of the shows are ending well before midnight, so I may be able to catch the Metro twice.
This does seem like a nice venue, and, if get to DC early enough, who knows, I could tour the area a little bit. An after party does sound tempting...
How early is everyone getting there? I'm considering camping out for many hours, but it hasn't looked too hectic so far.
I keep coming back to this thought:
Away from the stage for full-visual effects, or at the railing for band proximity? If the crowd isn't moshing, maybe I could switch back and forth throughout the night.
Thanks again!

As you may or may not know, people from Reflecting In The Chrome and ThisOneIsOnUs got together to record and edit the Chicago show for an upcoming release. We shot the whole show with 5 high-end XDCAMs and two DSLRs and we are currently in the process of collecting any extra footage. As always with those projects, the more we have, the better. So we're going to call out for anyone who wants to record upcoming shows, here are a few tips to help make your footage match with ours if you'd like to contribute.

First of all, whereas we had passes and official permission to record the Chicago show, we cannot provide such help for upcoming shows. Some venues, like HoB in Boston, charge royalties for bands who want to record their shows. So it's even beyond the bands control. Although, for those who'll try to sneak in their gear anyway, read on :

We're going to try to refrain from using iPhone/Flip, etc footage and concentrate on higher end gear. You can still let us know if you shoot with those, but we can't promise we'll use it. However, if you've got a DSLR that shoots in 1080p (5D, 7D, 60D, etc), or a prosumer HD camcorder (Panasonic HVX-200/Sony EX1, EX3, FS100, NXCAM/etc), we're definitely takers!

Technical specs :
-Set EVERYTHING manually. No autofocus, no autoexposure, no auto white balance.
-DON'T EVER CUT : we need continuous shots of the entire show, including breaks between songs. If you cut, we'll have to manually resynch your video and that can be a pain in the ass, especially if you cut between each and every song. If for some reason you had to cut, let us know when you submit your footage.
-Record in 1920x1080, 24 frames per second, with the highest possible bitrate on your cameras.
-Use whichever Picture Profile's got the most dynamic range or manually set everything to neutral except contrast which you'll want to drop even more. If you shoot with a DSLR, I can't insist enough that you get Technicolor's CineStyle profile. The image will look flat and lifeless but, trust us : that's what we need for color correction.
-Set & lock your white balance manually to 3200K. Don't try to make custom white balances with a sheet of white paper : these will always result in great difference between cameras for various reasons.
-Try to keep your ISO sensitivity as low as possible. It'd be best never to go over ISO 600. It probably won't be possible given the low light environment but keep that in mind anyway.
-Open your aperture as much as possible. Most Sony's will open up to f2.8 which is great for the lighting conditions.
-If you still don't have quite enough light, instead of boosting the ISO, you can slightlyslow down the shutter speed (1/40 should be fine, but don't go below 1/30 or you'll get trails whenever there is movement).
-If your camera has such tools, I suggest you display your Histogram and your Peaking at all times. Histogram is a little graphic that shows which parts of the screen is over or underexposed. Slightly underexposed is okay, slightly overexposed is not okay in the digital world, so try to watch out for overexposure. Peaking will highlight all pixels that are sharp, which is going to make it much easier to focus especially on small LCD displays.
-If you are filming with a zoom from a single position for the entire show, zoom in as far as you can go, focus on the farthest thing you see. Everything in between will stay sharp and you won't have to worry again about focus.

-Try not to move around the venue too much. It's always better if you stay in one place and film from that spot the entire time. That way when we're editing, we're sure your angle will be usable at all times and won't have to worry that you're shaking or moving around. If you're zooming in or out and panning across the stage, make sure you stop long enough in between movements... In otherwords, don't just keep scanning and moving around : that's unusable. You want to make at least 30 seconds to a minute-long stops between each move for us to cut easily.
-If you've never heard of the Rule of thirds, read this carefully before going in. Try not to frame anything dead center unless you're filming a very wide shot. Always put your subject on one third of the image.

What we most need :
-Dynamic, handheld shots from the pit.
-Closeups. As per Rob's indication though : don't bother trying to get closeups when the band is hidden behind the screens. They are meant to be hidden, the show is all about video projections at those points. Ice age and Fur-lined, by exemple, will give you better opportunities to film the performers and zoom in real close.
-We'll still take everything else you shoot, though.

Postproduction :
-I will need you upload your original, uncompressed data (if you shoot with camcorders, I need the entire card structure and not just the video files) to your own DropBox account (or whichever hosting site you like, WeTransfer, etc) and then share it with me. If you record on cameras with higher bitrates like P2s, we might need you to send a HDD for which we might be able to cover shipping.
-My DropBox account for you to share your files with me : pp.chevigny-le.blanc@umontreal.ca
-When you submit your footage, make sure your mention your online screen name, your full name and address, cellphone number so we can keep in touch.

My girlfriend and I hit last night's show at the Apollo and we have tickets for this show as well. The girlfriend has class but she's gonna try and duck out early so we can get down there ASAP. Can anyone speak to the parking situation? Also I'll be wearing an NES controller shirt if anyone wants to say hi or bitch me out for P8M.

2013.04.30 - Silver Springs, MD @ The Fillmore

Truly, truly an amazing experience. I really can't describe. I met a ton of ETS members; Jessamineny, Andy, and another kind soul whose name I never got to know we're huge help in making this night so special. Thank you all for putting up with my awkward nubeness. The music, the visuals, the people...I have never bonded so much with a crowd at an event like this. The best show I've attended. I'm gonna stop rambling. Gah, it's over, but it "keeps coming around again"!!

INVERSE PHASE'S SHOW ADVENTURES PART TWO (continued from the NYC thread)

Just reiterating from the other thread, I'm not much of a "big show" guy, so this is a sort of long story that is long and drawn out because it's some of my first tour experience going to shows with TR, so I'm trying to be thorough. I have never been to a NIN show and the NYC show was the only other HTDA show I was able to hit....so I'm a noob, please bear that in mind while I'm gushing.

If you've seen the rest of the shit up above, you know we arrived at the venue late. I was kind of upset that I didn't get to come early and hang out with people in line — though I did get stopped outside the venue by squirtle, who recognised me running (probably because I'm always running [late] to all my panels at conventions and shit) — so yeah, I have to be honest the line was lots of fun in NYC and it was missed.

OH WELL

My girlfriend got out of class around 8.30 and we fucking bolted for the venue from Baltimore. Arrived about two songs into HTDA_'s set. Wasn't too late for "How Long?", phew. My girlfriend checked out the balcony area and I just kind of gravitated to the pretty lights at the front of the venue, primarily hanging on the rail on the left side, in front of the (padded) pole. We were mesmerized once again.

I feel like Mariqueen introduced everyone later in the set than she did at the Apollo (not that it matters). This was a fantastic show to see twice. The Apollo (seated) and the Fillmore (mostly standing room only) are such different environments it was great to see that everything worked out in both places, but also how it worked out in both. It was a very different experience being right up front. My girlfriend noted the sound was better at the Fillmore, I think it was about equivalent, and thought I noticed some clipping (above and beyond the obvious/intentional) in one part... still sounded great most of the time.

At the end of the NYC show I handed the tour manager a Robotron cartridge with my number on it and he said he would give it to TR the next day, which would've been before the Fillmore show. During the day I got two suspicious calls from two numbers I didn't recognise and I didn't answer the phone. Later on I realised it was possible it was an anonymous number service, but we got weird stuff when we called the numbers back, so I didn't think it was anyone important.

Anyway, towards the end of the show I was going to go up front and ask the someone where I would find out if I "accidentally" got placed on any lists, thinking there might be something like the "guest room" they had at the Apollo. My girlfriend pointed at a stage/venue supervisor near us so I went with that and he said to try the ticketing window; it was closed. When I tried to re-enter the venue, someone told me that wasn't possible but I explained the situation and they told me it was fine, go back in. Then they realised I was talking about a list for the band, not the venue itself, and said the best spot to wait is behind a yellow barrier separating the Fillmore property from the nextdoor parking lot. They told me I should go enjoy the rest of the show, but I knew it was close to ending time, and I didn't want to add to any potential pandemonium so I just headed straight back.

In the back I hung by the barrier and there were some people hanging near the door that turned out to be shooting to meet TR, one of them was a guy that wanted his birth certificate signed (his name was Reznor), and he was with his girlfriend (?). The other two guys apparently went to the Lights In The Sky tour in DC and one of them managed to jump on stage and slap Trent's ass. Birth cert dude actually knew about P8M and had purchased it, but I went ahead and signed a download card and gave it to everyone since they all knew who I was. Other guy said he deserved a signature for slapping TR's ass, I had a little trouble processing that, but I commend his level of committment.

Everyone went back up to the door to ask the guy near the door if he had any details, I followed just because I wanted to try and introduce myself and let him know I wasn't trying to be an asshole, and that he said he was going to call the cops on all of us, so I just went back while ass-slapper dude argued with him for a minute.

More people started to show until we had maybe a healthy 30-40 people out there. I talked to more folks that recognised me which was awesome, told them I was just hoping to get P8M signed, and then after a little bit I saw Atticus out of the corner of my eye taking a post-show smoke break so I decided to greet him like I did when I first stopped him, and yelled "Great Show!" afterwards, hoping that would help. He didn't pop over, so my girlfriend recommended we just start tweeting.

I fired off a tweet to the band and individual members' twitter accounts saying we had some respectful fans that just wanted a photo and a handshake, the girlfriend fired one off to them saying she hoped I'd get to meet them....time passed....

Atticus came back out and started scanning the crowd (I think? couldn't tell from the distance), and one of the crew comes out and yells in a booming voice "Where's the 8-bit guy? Is the 8-bit guy out here?" A bunch of people all look at me and start pointing and I was frozen in time for what felt like minutes, but was probably like 3-5 seconds. I yell "I'm him, I'm the 8-bit guy" and jump the wall. The guy says very sternly "ONLY YOU. COME WITH ME" and I clear my girlfriend and we both go towards the back door of the Fillmore, where we join Atticus.

Atticus leads us down some stairs inside and asks me, "so what's your real name, anyway?" and I let him know, but told him Inverse Phase is just fine. We had a chuckle and he begins to lead me down a short hallway.

Hanging in the corner — kind of in a nook behind a roadcase but not in a very surprising location — was Trent, and Rob was around the corner in a room. My girlfriend caught a glimpse of Mariqueen, but she wasn't out and we didn't see Alessandro. Trent kind of reiterated an email he sent awhile back, mentioning that P8M was great and he could tell I really put my all into it... at one point I think he asked someone (crew?) if they knew who I was, and he was like "this is the 8-bit pretty hate machine guy".... we talked music a little, I mentioned that I really liked what he had done with HTDA and how certain elements were much more restrained and others pushed to the forefront, it was very neat. Trent was like "I grew up 8-bit" and I just kind of smiled and said "....I know."

Trent was cool with a photo and the guy taking pictures said he'd just snap a bunch, I was particularly pleased with how this one came out, I'm not doing the derpface which is good:

After the pics, I chatted with Atticus, Rob and Trent just a little more but they had to finish packing up, so my moment had come...I asked them to sign my copy of P8M. I mentioned they could pick the booklet or the CD, Trent opted for both and Rob followed suit. I got Atticus to sign my ticket since I didn't know if it would be appropriate getting him to sign an album he didnt really have anything to do with. Plus I had already gotten a photo with him in NYC. Everyone was so chill and friendly, I can't overstate my satisfaction. Naturally, even now, I'm still freaking out.

We left shortly thereafter, someone from the Fillmore led us out and asked what happened and I explained it, she thought it was cool. We went back over to the barrier and said hi to a few folks, I let them all know what happened, showed the CD, shared a bit of the story and a few folks snapped pictures. Infact, the CD pic is from a dude that also got a picture with me because he had also heard P8M and really liked it... and I mentioned to everyone that I had told the band about the crowd, but while I wasn't looking the tour bus started pulling away, so I think that was the window of opportunity the band needed to get away.

Celebration dinner was had at a diner near my house, and it was the taste of delicious victory.

I just want it to be clear that I'm not posting any of this to brag or boast, I just wanted to tell the story because I'm excited as hell that it happened. I kind of wondered if it would go this way and it did, maybe someone can live vicariously through my post and get some enjoyment out of it.